The present invention relates to a crushing and particle sizing apparatus for granular material for sizing, into a predetermined particle size, various wet or dry materials such as drugs, foods, fodder, chemicals, fertilizers, fine coals and limestone which were granulated or formed by various apparatuses. More particularly, the present invention relates to a crushing and particle sizing apparatus for granular material for crushing wet aggregates or dry blocks, i.e., granulated materials (lump) granulated or formed by various apparatuses and having particle size equal to or greater than a target value, and for sizing the crushed materials into a constant particle size range.
At present, mixing, granulating and sizing operations are carried out in various fields including pharmaceutical and food fields. A particle size adjusting operation in a produce manufacturing process is an important unit operation for enhancing the handling such as the quality of particles and fluidization the time of fluidizing and drying operation. However, the conventional crushing and particle sizing apparatus for granular material is designed such that the particle size is controlled by screen.
That is, as shown in FIG. 7, in the conventional crushing and particle sizing apparatus for granular material, a cylindrical screen (classifier mechanism) c is mounted to an upper casing b provided with a material input port a. A rotation shaft d associatively connected to a driving mechanism is vertically fitted in a center of the screen c. By horizontally a plurality of rotating granulating blades e formed on the rotation shaft d at predetermined distanced from one another, wet aggregates or dry blocks are crushed, and particle which is sized into a predetermined particle size is discharged from a sized particle hole c1 of the cylindrical screen c.
However, if such a screen c is used, it is necessary to prepare various cylindrical screens c having different sizing holes depending upon desired particle sizes in order to sizing particles into the predetermined particle size. After the screen c was used, it must be cleaned. Further, if the screen is continuously used, the screen itself is worn and damaged, and friction particle or broken piece of the screen may adversely mixed into the product particles. Therefore, it is necessary to frequently check the screen, and there is a drawback that strict quality control must be carried out.
Further, in the case of the wet material, the screen is prone to be clogged depending upon physical characteristics of a material to be processed, and there is a problem that the material to be processed is adversely kneaded inside the screen c. In the case of any of the wet material and dry material, particle having appropriate particle size is also crushed by impact force of the granulating blade e, and there is a problem that fine particle is generated by the gross, and yield is inferior.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the invention to provide a crushing and particle sizing apparatus for granular material in which the particle size can be controlled without using a screen at all, it is possible to eliminate the need of cleaning operation after the apparatus is used, a strict quality control to prevent the friction particle or the broken piece of the screen from being mixed into a product, and an inconvenience caused by using the screen such as clogging of the screen, and it is possible to eliminate an inconvenience that a material to be processed is kneaded when a wet material is used, or that particle having appropriate particle size is also crushed to generate fine particles by the gross to deteriorate the yield when the wet material or dry material is used, and it is possible to size particles within an appropriate particle size range.
To achieve the above object, according to technical means employed in the present invention, there is provided a crushing and particle sizing apparatus for granular material for sizing, through a predetermined reserving region, wet or dry material granulated or formed by various devices and supplied from a material input port, the apparatus comprising casing, a rotation body, an opposed face portion opposed to the rotation body at a predetermined distance, and a gap region defined by the rotation body and the opposed face portion which are provided within the casing, the gap region comprising a particle size adjusting region which allows particles suited to the gap setting to pass but does not allow particles not suited to the gap setting to pas, wherein the particles not allowed to pass through the gap region are brought into contact with the opposed face portion in association with rotation of the rotation body at an inlet or face sections of the gap region and are crushed to such an extent that the particles can pass through the gap region and discharged from a discharge port.